Multiple Masks and Spill Supression.

HiyaI'm sure this is really simple but could not get my head round it last night. I filmed some test footage in front of a green screen which did not cover all of the background so I thought I would create a couple of masks to get rid of the areas not covered in green. Simply done for one side but when I created the second mask on same composite shot it would not blacken out the area within the mask. Would I need to duplicate the shot and create the second mask on that one instead or can you have multiple masks on the same composite shot?Also VisionLab used to have a few nice tools like 'Spill Suppresion' and 'Erode White' to remove any green edging. Does HF Ultimate have these at all as I couldn't see them anywhere?Thanks to anyone who can assist me. Well love the power though that HF has so far CheersJay

Comments

Yep, you can use two masks, or lots of masks, on one piece of footage. You just need to tell HitFilm how you want each of the masks to behave. There is a menu for each mask, where the Parent menu is for layers, where you can adjust the behavior of each mask individually. Set the second mask to Subtract to remove its area from the layer as well.

I'm working on a 2D short using ToonBoom for most of the backgrounds and scenes with a 3D rocket model made in a separate program shot against a green screen. I'm using Hitfilm to composite the pieces together. Being able to use multiple masks to separate the original single city shot into background and foreground so the rocket can appear to be moving in between them makes the whole scene so much easier. I've used masks for smaller open areas too allowing the ship to be seen. Hitfilm is friggin awesome! All the video tutorials and support are tremendous.

Well, to be intuitive and welcoming to new users (a stated goal of Hitfilm staff) you should be able to create multiple mask selections in Hitfilm the same way you make a multiple selection anywhere else, using the shift key.

There seems to be a fair amount of non-standard interface in Hitfilm, which doesn't seem to be in Hitfilm's interest.

As example, you can flip a clip horizontally in Hitfilm, the feature is available, but you have to use a sort of obscure method instead of just selecting "flip horizontally" as you would for instance in any image editor.

Yesterday I was reading a thread about merging multiple clips on the editor timeline. Again, this is possible, but in an obscure manner unique to Hitfilm, instead of just using a "merge clips" button or menu selection, which would be immediately obvious to pretty much anyone.

If you want Hitfilm to be intuitive and accessible to new users, that limits the amount of reinventing the wheel which is advisable.

@PhilTanny Maybe, but many image editors don't have half the special features of Hitfilm. I use Vegas Movie Studio and it does many things that Hitfilm does not and Hitfilm does many things it does not.

For me the perfect piece of software is somewhere between the two, or... as I current do: use both for their respective tasks, as I suspect the result would be an expensive piece of bloatware that would be a nightmare to use. It's horses for courses. Plus with the integration option between them I have access to all Hitfilm's abilities - in addition to the free Ignite Effects - inside VMS anyway.

There are about 3 ways I can think of to flip an image horizontally, so having a single button to do it removes the versatility of having the others available, as well as the curiosity of the user in finding them. Plus, you need to make room for it somewhere, find and use the 'Flip Horizontally' button, which is no quicker than the Click, Click, press '-' of one of the methods. No time or knowledge advantage to me. As the same method works for Flip Vertically in Hitfilm, that would also need its own button as per your suggestion, when with the single learned skill you can apply that skill to two results.

Pick a single effect, anything at all, and spend a few hours with it and I'd bet you'll come up with 10 ways of using it that no one's ever thought of. Want some text flying onto the screen and swirling around in a circle before settling in place?: Drop Shadow Effect.

There are at least 3 ways of doing just about anything in Hitfilm and replacing that with lots of buttons for the more simple tasks is missing the raison d'être of Hitfilm, which is: to learn some basic skills, experiment and do things that no other software can do. Then expand on those skills and do some truly incredible things. You can buy a copy of the basic Vegas Movie Studio for $34.99 at the moment (also 30 day trial) and it has lots of drag'n'drop effects and transitions. No horizontal flip effect though. You have to go into Event Pan and Crop and select it from a menu, which is about the same amount of work as it is in Hitfilm.

That's just my own perspective though, and there are lots of ways Hitfilm could be improved, so add your voice to the Wishlist and the Devs will certainly look at it.

Honestly, pick an effect and just try random things with it. You will be surprised at what can be done.

Grouping (not merging) clips would sometimes be useful though, but I use VMS for that.